The Wrong Choice
by araika-sevra
Summary: One choice will reunite them One choice will awaken her demons One choice will test his strength ONE CHOICE WILL RECREATE THEM
1. Chapter 1

It was my day. Finally, I could leave these honest (fill-in-the-blank)s. I mean, I've learned to love black and white but there are some things I'd rather not tell people. Stupid Candor. I wish I was more like my friend Cameron. She is always honest. If she hates you, she won't spare your feelings. Same if she likes you. Or if she did something bad. It's like she doesn't care about herself. That's how I decided what factions I absolutely COULD NOT choose. I obviously couldn't choose Candor (I'm not honest) or Abnegation (I care too much about myself), so that left only Dauntless, Erudite, or Amity. I always hoped for Amity, but even so I was nervous for the aptitude test. But, right now, it's all about the choosing.  
I sat down between Candor's own Wes Pare and Amity's Matt Porier. Everyone was unsure what Wes would pick, what with him being such a quiet child and all, but I was almost positive he would stay in Candor. Matt had other plans. He told everyone he was going to join the Dauntless, but we all knew he'd fail their harsh initiation. Me? Well, I was still deciding. I snapped back to reality when I heard Cameron's name called. As she stepped up, it looked as if she too was struggling to decide. I couldn't imagine why. What happened next is kind of fuzzy to me, but I clearly remember her blood dripping onto the brown dirt of Amity. People tell me that, the second after she chose Amity, I stood up and everyone looked at me. They sat me down and continued with the Ceremony.  
My brain couldn't stop reeling. Amity? I looked over to find Cameron in the new group of Amity Initiates, but instead I found a pair of eyes. The eyes were staring at me, clear gray. The gray eyes sat above a blue-clothed body. My choice became easy. Those eyes gave me a clear answer.  
Wes's name was called. He slowly walked up to the circles of glass bowls. Eric, one of the Dauntless leaders, handed Wes the knife. Wes slowly brought the blade across his hand drawing pearls of blood. He, without a second thought, shoved his hand out over the bowl filled with burning coals. Dauntless. It was my turn now.  
"Dana Perry." Eric called. I slowly walked up, thinking of those beautiful eyes. I had thought I'd never see them again. But was throwing away my results really worth it? What if he had moved on? I had to try. Eric smiled as he handed me the knife. He had a slimy smile. He was obviously hiding something. I looked the blade over in my hand, then looked back over to see those gray eyes again. I could learn to love Erudite.


	2. Chapter 2

I walked over to the group of transfers, right next to a girl name Bethany. She was an Amity transfer. She grabbed my hand and shook it very hard.  
"I'm Bethany Jackson!" She whispered into my ear. I nodded and told her my name. I looked around at all the other people who chose Erudite. I found, of course, the smartest boy in our year, Ethan Ryan. Of course he'd stay In Erudite. Then, I noticed who he was talking to. I wandered over to them, trying to make it seen natural. He was talking to the owner of those gray eyes. I got over to them and just stood there, pretending I was watching the Ceremony. In reality, I was listening to their conversation. They were talking about Erudite Initiation.  
"...So then they make you take an IQ test, and if you score below a certain point you don't join." Ethan said to a third boy who transferred from Amity.  
"Did you ever get a chance to study?" The boy, named Jacob, asked.  
"Well, you spend the whole year learning, if that's what you mean." It came from the boy with the beautiful eyes. Kendal. I had known Kendal a while back. And, after all that happened in the last year, I was back with him and ready to pick up where we left off.


	3. Chapter 3

I met him at school. He was in my year and I despised him for his Erudite-like knowledge. He and his Erudite friends were always showing me up. He was the perfect Dauntless. We found we had a lot in common and slowly (and secretly) became friends. Then, his Dauntless friend Keith threw a party for a Dauntless holiday called Halloween. My newfound friend snuck me in. The holiday was weird because everyone was dressed up in strange clothes that Kendal said were called costumes. Kendal was quick to introduce me to the host of the party, Keith.  
"This is Dana." Kendal stated. "She's a Candor." He nodded and called a Dauntless girl over. Keith whispered in her ear and left.  
"Come with me." The girl said. Kendal and I started to follow. The girl stuck her tongue out in a playful way. "Just the girl, Kendal." Kendal rolled his eyes and put a hand on my shoulder.  
"I'll be right out here, okay? And don't let them push you around too much!" He walked out into the crowd of masked Dauntless.  
"Well, stay silent for a bit, Candor, and I'll tell ya what's going down. My name is Carla. I'm supposed to make it possible for ya ta hang out here more. Un-noticed."  
I frowned. "Isn't that... illegal?" Carla smiled, but didn't answer. She asked a bunch of questions, like how much black I have in my closet and how I got on the trains. Then, came a make-over.  
I walked into the crowd in my new clothes. Carla had put me in a black tee with a red heart on the front and dark blue jeans. She had also pulled my long brown hair back into a single braid down my back. The strangest thing was the lipstick. I had never worn make-up, because Candor beliefs stated that make-up is hiding the true you therefore lying. She told me I had flawless skin, so all she did was put on some flaming red lipstick. As I looked in the mirror, I was stunned. For a second, I believed I was a Dauntless.  
We stood at the back of the crowd. Keith got up and started asking if anyone was up for something called "Karaoke". Carla grabbed my hand and dragged my through the crowd. As we passed Kendal, I grabbed his hand. He smiled as we ran up the stairs to the stage. The four of us stood on stage. Carla and Keith each grabbed a mic as the music started. It was an old song, "Wild Ones". Carla sang the beginning, Keith the first rap verse. As his part came to an end, Carla handed me her mic, gesturing that it was my turn to sing. I sang hesitantly at first, but slowly warmed up to the song. I started dancing and probably looked like a total spaz. Kendal took the second verse. Carla took Keith's hand and slowly, they went offstage, Carla winking as she went. She had set us up! Kendal and I took the rest of the song. As I sang the end, Kendal's hand slipped into mine. I stared at his beautiful eyes as I ended the song. It was perfect.  
For the rest of that year, I would sneak into the Dauntless HQ at night. I just wanted to be with Kendal. He slowly took over my thoughts. When he transferred to the year above mine, I realized he'd Choose before me. So I secretly promised myself to find him and Choose to be with him.


	4. Chapter 4

After the crazed crowd of Dauntless left the Choosing room, the Erudite calmly left. Me. It was hard to believe. I was one of the Erudite. We all started walking and I tried to locate Kendal again. When I found him, I poked his shoulder like I always used to and turned away.  
"Excuse me miss, did you-" He trailed off as I turned to him with a big grin. "Dana? What are you doing here?"  
"Nice to see you too." I replied, sarcastically. He pulled me into a big bear hug.  
"I...How..."  
"People are staring." He looked around and noticed I was right. Then, he pulled me off to the side, away from the Erudite Initiates.  
"What were your Aptitude test results?" he asked in a stern voice. I knew we weren't supposed to share them, but I had trusted this boy before. Why not now?  
"Amity. I was supposed to Choose Amity." He smiled.  
"We should go back with the rest." And with that, we walked back to the Erudite headquarters with the rest.


	5. Chapter 5

It was the first night. As I laid in the bunk, I could hear a girl crying beside me. I looked over and saw a girl who was small and blonde. She was sobbing, her face buried in her pillow. I wanted to help her, to comfort her, to do something to make her happy. Because, well, that was my nature. But I held myself back. Something told me the Erudite would think that both crying and comforting were "illogical".  
The next morning, Kendal came and knocked on our door. The five other girls in the room jumped. But I had known it was coming. He hadn't changed one bit.  
"Time for a tour and first day...procedures." He announced, in a formal voice. Then, he walked out. All six of us got up and scrambled around trying to get dressed. I ran to the closet and grabbed some jeans and a blue plaid shirt. After I put those on, I grabbed a pair of plastic blue rimmed fake glasses. They aren't pretty on me, but that's not my goal. I want to be...I don't know. Different. Noticeable. I am ready half an hour before the rest of the girls in my room.  
"Dana, could you help me with something?" One of the girls whose name I think is Sharon. She was peaking her head out of the bathroom. I nodded and ran over to see what was up. She giggled nervously. "I can't get these jeans to zip." I looked at the fly of the jeans, which were about one size too small. This girl was either from Amity or belonged there. I smiled.  
"I need you to take a deep breath in. Then, I'm going to try to zip it up with both my hands." She nodded and took in a deep breath, large enough to almost suck me up. With all my strength, I pulled up on the little metal zipper. It ran up the little zipper track and landed in place at the top. "You can breathe again." I said to Sharon. She smiled and thanked me. I got up off my knees and left the bathroom to see everyone was just about ready. We get up and walk out the door to begin our new lives.


	6. Chapter 6

We walked into a room completely made of white. White tiles, white seats, white desks, and a white clock. Standing right inside the door was Jeanine, dressed in a white dress with a blue scarf. She was looking at us in a searching way, as if looking for telltale signs of idiocy.  
"Everyone take a seat." She said in her calm, clear voice. It gave me shivers as I sat down. "Good. Now we know you can at least follow directions. Write your name on this paper." She gestures towards the pencils and papers on our desks. As we all do so, Jeanine explained what our task was.  
"Welcome to the Erudite, the faction of knowledge. I will be giving you a taste of what the Initiation is about. Every other week for a year, I will administer a quiz to check your progress. If at any time your intellectual growth pauses or reverses, it will result in immediate ejection from the premises. This shall be a practice run, as I previously stated, to give you a taste of what I'm looking for." She pauses and turns to the clock. I swivel in my seat to look at Kendal, who was standing near the door. He smiled and mouthed out, "_It is easy! You will do fine._". I nodded in fear.  
"Now," barked Jeanine. "number your paper one through ten." We all did so. "Now I start with the questions." I took a deep breath and sat there, pencil in hand. "Number one: 72+28-10*3." I looked down at the equation written on my paper. Start with multiplication, then add and subtract from left to right...  
I wrote my answer of 70 down on the paper. The questions continued to be fired at us, one by one. On the tenth question, Jeanine started announcing for us all to pass our papers forward. I handed mine to the boy in front of me, confident in my answers. Once the flutter of moving papers had ceased, Jeanine turned to face us once again.  
"Congratulations. You are all one step closer to becoming a member of the Erudite." She paused and gestured for Kendal to join her in front of us. "This is Kendal, a recent transfer just like yourselves. He will be your...tutor...so to speak. Kendal will be here to assist you in your journey toward enlightenment. He knows this compound inside out and was the initiate with the highest I.Q. in his class. I would highly suggest you use his help. After all, not all of you know how to learn." Her eyes landed on mine with her final words. "Now...go."  
And we all got up and left.


	7. Chapter 7

Jeanine had told us that the real baseline would be in a week, so that even if we failed horribly we would have a chance to experience the life we had chosen. I wanted to use that time to get back the lost moments between Kendal and I. So I searched. The Erudite compound wasn't very confusing; it was a circle on all three levels with a library in the middle. Hundreds of people were walking around in the circles, going into and through hundreds of labs and mini libraries to get to where they need to. I stepped out of the dorm and into the steady flow of traffic, letting it carry me on my search. I tried to take in all that i could, as if inhaling the smells of the intelligence would grant me that gift. In my heart, I knew it was futile.  
When my hunt proved unsuccessful, I decided to go to the library. Maybe a good fantasy adventure would lift my spirits, as Kendal had taught me it could that time ago. As I entered the library, a hand caught my shoulder. I spun, ready to protect myself from harm if needed. Jeanine smiled at me, with a little fright in her eyes.  
"It's just me, sweetie." I relaxed my arms, but kept my muscles a bit tense. Though I had no reason to be, I was suspicious of her. Maybe that was the new lifestyle I had chosen, always wary of everyone else's words. I had given up the assured honesty of Candor, now I'd live with that decision. "I just wanted to congratulate you. Out of the entire class's test papers, you were the only one to do well in all areas. Most excelled in one area and left...much to be desired in the others. I am very impressed, especially keeping your Aptitude Test results in mind." I paused before replying.  
"You saw my results?'  
"Of course! How else am I supposed to track the success of my creation: the serum?" Of course she created it. I put on a sugar sweet smile and chose my words carefully.  
"Oh, of course. Such a miraculous creation could only come from a mind as excellent as yours. Thank you. I am honored to have proved myself." My goal was to get on her good side, maybe kissing up would help my lost cause.  
"You haven't proved yourself, dear. There's still a lot of time to go and I'm not easy to please." She turned to leave, but something inside me couldn't let it go. I had to have the final say, I had to let her know I wanted to be here.  
"That's okay." I said just loud enough for her to hear me and turn slightly. Her face held a look somewhere between confusion and astonishment. I said, a little louder, "Prepare to be surprised, then." I spun on my heel and stepped slowly into the library, a wide smile crossing my face.


End file.
